The Next Adventure
by DoctorKnight
Summary: Danny Phantom is 803 years old, very tired and now in pain. All he wants is to see his family and his love Sam. But nope. Apparently Death won't take him he's too "balanced." Too alive to pass on but too dead for Death to be any further influence in his afterlife. How does that even make sense? Apparently he has to become Death's master to finally move on. This is totally not fair.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Danny Phantom is 803 years old, very tired and now in pain. All he wants is to see his family and his love Sam. But nope. Death won't take him he's too "balanced." Too alive to pass on but too dead for Death to help him. Apparently he has to become Death's master. This is totally not fair.

AN: Hi! So, this is my first shot at writing fanfiction that I would actually post. My spelling is at the level of an elementary school student. I say this because I'm sorry for any miss spellings. Feel free to PM me if I spell a name/place/spell/attack wrong. Also, I swear this is not angst, just this first chapter will have a bit of that. It can't be helped. My own pet peeve is stories that are too matter-of-fact. So if stuff happens or characters feel a certain way it causes other stuff to happen and probably won't be brushed off. I love humor but I don't know if I can write flat out humor so adventure it is.

T for overtones and not nice words (a couple might slip out rarely on Danny's part, don't know about the other people though.)

PS. I love making references to a lot of things I've read/seen.

Disclaimer: Disclaiming! This means Danny Phantom and Luna Lovegood (everyone says Harry Potter, seriously J.K. wrote so many characters) are not my brainchildren. Which means if they ever appear in front of me they are open for a … uhhhhh … group … get-together(?) … uh … hmmm, not meant for small children with impressionable minds. So, yea … on with other words that I have typed.

Lilly and James Potter had no child after their marriage. They wanted to wait till after the war so they would grow up with out a dark lord around. As time went on Voldemort and his death eaters got bolder and switched from targeting only muggle villages to Albus Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix. Order members started to put all members' homes under the Fidelius Charm. On October 31 of 1981 Voldemort received information on the location of the Potter home from their secret keeper. The Dark Lord and his followers swept through Godric's Hollow. While the Death eaters attacked random homes, Lord Voldemort himself went to the Potter house and attacked the couple. The couple was not prepared and was easily over powered and had their wands taken. The mass murdering psychopath told Lilly to bow down to him and he would spare her. She would not. James and Lilly stood strong in the face of Voldemort's Avada Kedavra. Their death was not alone however. Their love, determination, luck, and sacrifice combined to vanquish the Dark Lord… for now.

Danny Phantom was tired. Very tired. Lying in his moderate bed, in his bigger-on-the-inside floating metal house, not far from the Far Frozen. He was tired. It was understandable though being 803 years old. He did not look it with his muscled body, messy hair, and bright green mischievous eyes, even with his snow-white hair.

Danny Phantom was tired because Danny Fenton was about to die. He knew it. He smiled remembering the last time he was in his human form. Danny was walking very slowly up to the Nasty Burger counter and asked "One nasty burger, cheese, their special sauce, … **cough, cough, dentures fallout and get put back in … breath** , … and any other really-bad-for-you condiments you got… and fries, lots of fries."

The lanky pimpled-faced teen with a nauseated face looked hesitant, "Hey old man, are you sure? You'll probably keel over from all that grease and salt."

Danny squinted his dulled sparkling blue eyes, "Boy, I have traveled the world from Atlantis to Mt. Everest; I have saved this world singled handedly many times; I have seen all nine planets (yes nine because Pluto is a planet no matter how many times scientists change their minds); I have out lived all my close family; I am 269 years old and I want my damn food so I can eat it and regret it immediately after." The nerdy looking boy nodded his head to the senile old man with his long grey beard, retro jeans and t-shirt from the 21st century. Danny pursed his lips slightly, "And boy, for your sheer rudeness, deliver it to my table." Danny threw, very pathetically, his money down on the counter. He turned abruptly, threw his beard over his shoulder, and marched to one of the back countertops by the window.

As soon as the old man turned his straight face broke into a wide grin. He started to chuckle, and when he got to his seat he started laughing hard to the point of wheezing and banging his wrinkly hand on the table. The youngsters gave him a wide berth when they went looking for seats. A couple minutes later Kid-Pimple-Face put the grease soaked food on Danny's counter space. He enjoyed his "last meal," left the restaurant, immediately started to regret the food, and shaved his itchy beard he grew specifically for this occasion before going ghost and remaining that way.

Now lying in his bed with his youthful ghost body, he could feel himself dying. More than usual. Danny knew it. He accepted it. His ghost form could only counter is human life span for so long even in his ghost form. That didn't mean he liked the feeling. Hated it in fact.

His body had aged like any person would have as they got older, but his ghostly form stopped aging around the age of 26/27. This was unusual because both of Dani's forms were aging. Slower than normal people, but still aging. Around the age of 35, Danny, his beautiful, loving, radical, wonderful, wife Sam, Dani, Dani's wife Paulina Sanchez (Danny did not want to know how that happened), his sister Jazz, best-friend Tucker, and Tucker's wife Valerie left their kids with the grandparents and took the Specter Speeder to the Far Frozen for a ghostly check up. It went as well as the friends could have hoped.

"You both will age with your family, grow old with them, and die from old age eventually. However that will not be for many many years Great One's." Frostbite had looked at Sam when he finished the prognosis. The Great One, Danny Phantom saved the ghost zone, but the Great One's mate's opinion mattered more in this case. His ghostly half could deal with his eventual solitude, but the young Sam would have to help him come to terms with the fact Danny would out live her. Also Frostbite did not want to deliver news to the wife of The Great One and make her unhappy, thus making him unhappy, a happy wife made a happy life or so the humans said. "You however, Dani, will pass on much sooner in comparison to the Great One. The human side of you is much more dominant than your ghostly side."

The friends gave each other a small smiles, thanked the yeti ghost ruler for his help, and left to return to their children and continue with their busy lives. This new information was accepted gracefully within the family with only a few tears shed of the hero. Decades latter though when friends or family asked Danny and Sam Fenton how they felt about his youthful ghost half and human half, they would smile evilly. The elderly couple's answer was almost always along the lines of, "It's great! Who needs Viagra when you have eternal youth?" The reactions never got old. Never. Even got a couple on video to play back over and over.

And over.

Danny and Sam lived to have three children and see seven grand children. Sam only lived to see the first eleven great-grand children. Danny has seen all fourteen great-grand children, thirty-one great-great-grand kids, and a lot of the great-great-great ones. He lost track and contact somewhere in the middle of his fourth century. Frostbite had been right, once-apon-a-time about becoming numb to the solitude.

His smaller-on-the outside house in the ghost zone he built in search of solitude was based off of the original Fenton works. He wanted to be closer to his family he left behind. That's not to say he didn't enjoy himself. Sam, Tucker, Jazz and a whole bunch of other people would have found someway to kick his ass from… wherever it is they are if he wasn't trying to be happy. The house had a library the ghostwriter was almost jealous of, which he rarely stepped foot in unless he needed to know something; a room dedicated to Doomed the video game in remembrance of those hours played with his friends; a hallway that went on for miles with just pictures of family; a room for the ghost werewolf Wulf; a room made of dog beds and chew toys for the dog ghost Cujo; a huge open space for parties, and a bunch of rooms to host other ghosts in when he sometimes hosts the annul Christmas party. And a bunch of other random, normal, and some down right weird rooms just because he could. Well, the ghost construction workers could. Computers, jets, and spaceships he could make. Floating constructs that defy all physics he had to learn to be an astronaut, nope.

He traveled to six of the nine planets as a NASA astronaut. He saw the remaining three (go Pluto) on his own trips to space with Dani in search of Vlad.

Dani's ghost-half had been aging right along with her human half. This had been their last major trip together at the age of 253. They found Vlad in the asteroid belt chiseling sculptures of Maddie Fenton. Vlad had embraced his ghostly form completely, his human life just a distant memory. They left soon after finding him. Danny and Dani were not running away from the fruitloop, they just didn't want the crazy psycho tendencies to figure out a way to diffuse through the vacuum of space infecting them. That was all.

Danny had brought Dani back to her own family of great great grandchildren so she could rest after her last grand adventure to places not seen by ordinary humans. She passed away 7 years later in her sleep at the top of Mt. Everest. Dani had a home at its peak. She called Danny to her the day before she passed.

"Hey Danny." She smiled as she looked through the picture window towards the sun falling just above the cloud line. The teal couch she was sitting on looked small in comparison to her frail ghost body.

"Hey yourself." Danny Fenton smiled and sat slowly with his human form next to Dani. Both looking old enough to be considered a myth or legend. He looked out the window too. "Why teal?"

"It was her eye color." Dani's smile became wistful and Danny's eyes turned to her. "I'm very tired. More tired than usual… I'll finally see Paulina again tomorrow."

"You can tell?"

"Yes. Never felt this way ever in my life. I'm just so tired." Danny looked back to the sun. They both lived out their dreams. All that was left was to see their families again. Then he gave a small smirk.

"I still have nightmares of when Sam found out you were dating Paulina.

Dani snorted. "She wanted to catch your attention originally and became a nicer person." Now she smirked a bit, "It didn't help that we have the same tastes for physical attraction, oh father dear."

"Two things, ew. Second, why did you have to tell Sam that when she was pregnant?" Dani's smirk turned mischievous as she looked to him

"Because it was funny." Danny mock scowled at his female counterpart, but couldn't keep it for more than 5 seconds before he snorted. They returned to the fading sun.

They fell asleep at some point.

Only Danny woke up.

Now 543 years later Danny felt tired. Very tired. And pain.

His mind jerked back to the present. Pain. He was supposed to be dead. He could feel it. Danny Phantom was in pain. This wasn't supposed to happen. His ghost half wasn't supposed to have the aches and pains of a human. Dani would have complained to him if she had felt like this. He sat up tenderly, slowly, and looked at his body. It still looked young and muscled from what he could tell. He felt so tired last night. She wasn't kidding when she said told him that.

"AHHHHHHH!" he cries out a wave of pain hit him then fades. His breathing calms down as he takes deep breaths. The last one released a blue mist.

"Look inside yourself Daniel." Danny flinches and looks towards the voice

"Moring Clockwork." He winces as another wave hits. The child-ghost looks wistful. "What is going on?"

"Hello Daniel. I am sorry, but please look." That look was new. Apologizing before stuff happened was new. Clockwork never has been wistful as far as Danny Phantom remembered. Neutral, yes. Happy, yes. Annoyed, yes. Smug, enormously yes. Seemingly sad, never. This couldn't be good. Danny nodded once, closed his eyes and looked. And mentally followed the pain back to his core.

He was dead.

More so than usual.

His human half was dead, but… it wasn't. He could feel his ghost half sort of feeding it. His human self was alive, but it wasn't. He didn't even want to think about the pain if he switched forms. Feeling…shocked… confused, he asked, "Why aren't I dead?"

Clockwork's now old body and ancient eyes looked into Danny's green ones, "Daniel, Death can not claim you, you can't die."

"What? Come on Clockwork just let me die, please."

"I can not kill you. Death is unable to claim you."

"You say that like death is a person"

"Death is an entity"

Danny gives clockwork the most deadpanned look he ever gave anyone, ever. Including when Tucker gave really out there plans. "I swear, even on my not so deathly death bed my life is still… **ARGH** … I don't even have words that can fit this. All I want is to see Sam, and the kids and their kids and Tucker. Dani, Jazz, Mom and Dad." Danny yelled out in frustration and pain.

"You must become Death's Master to move on. Death knows this. The entity cannot help a ghost. It goes against Death's nature. Death is the perfect neutral. Even more so than myself." Danny shook his head. This totally wasn't fair.

"And how in the world do I do that? I never even heard of Death, the entity, till now. And why isn't (Danny gives air quotes,) 'Death' telling me this?"

"You have already passed the first hurdle, Death has no hold on you. You are perfectly balanced between your ghost half and your human half. And since Death cannot claim you Death can not appear before you."

"But, I'm still dying, so what's going on? Also if I wasn't balanced I wouldn't be having this problem." His eyes flashed and started to glow.

"You are correct. If you were like Dani, more human than ghost, you would pass on. Vlad Plasmius, his accident gave him a stronger ghost side, thus making him now a full ghost and all that entails. Never moving on. You, Daniel, are the impossible balance of life and death. You will always be dying till Death has claimed you. To end your infinite deterioration, you must move on; to move on you must be claimed by Death; to be claimed by Death you must become its master and command it to claim you." Now a wistful look crossed Clockwork's adult face. "I am sorry, you journey has not ended yet."

The old man in mind but not in body, looked to the sealing. Sighing, he spoke "This is like that stupid book my mom wrote: If You Give A Ghost-hunter a Blaster." Shaking his head, he continued, this time though with a resolve "O.k. How do I become the master of Death?"

AN: So how did I do? I like constructive criticism. Also, anyone have any good sarcastic commentary for Snape and Danny? Or something they would like to see? If I end up using an idea I will give credit where credit is due at the end of the post. One last thing, I'm American so I'm not good with British slang or popular… uh… phrases? i.e. bloody hell and other things like that.

My attention span is null. This means updates could be a month from now or a year from now. Please don't let that detour you. I just like to be honest.

Follow and review please

Tschüss! :)


	2. Chapter 2

Shout out to LunagaleMaster! You are my first reviewer ever! Thank You!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fred Weasley. I do not own George Weasley. I do not own Jack Fenton. I do not own Maddie Fenton.

 _Italicized = thoughts_

 _(Excluding the line from the previous chapter. Have to cover the exceptions.)_

 **Bold = Projecting voice or whatever seems appropriate for the most part.**

 **Chapter 2**

 _Shaking his head, he continued, this time though with a resolve "O.k. How do I become the master of Death?"_

The pale purple child ghost looked Danny in the eyes, red meeting green. "I can not tell you. That would be cheating"

After 788 years of knowing Clockwork, Danny wasn't the least bit surprised by the answer. He still could have lived without the jab to his childhood. Danny phased through his blankets on the bed and floated in front of the ghost. "Can you point me in the right direction then, please?"

Clockwork holds out his hand for his long time friend to take. Danny shrugs his shoulders and floats to him, grabbing his hand. They disappear with the appearance of spinning clock-hands and appear in the time-ghost's floating green clock tower. Hundreds of clocks could be heard ticking in time or out of time.

Danny opened his mouth to ask a question as they started floating down one of the many halls.

"Yes Daniel, I am well. Yes the Observers have agreed with my decision to help you, if only for you to leave the alone. Yes they are still annoying."

Danny promptly closed his mouth and chuckled. "You used to let me ask my questions." He glanced at the child looking ghost.

"Why would I continue to waste my time on your unneeded and unending questions?" Clockwork answered.

Danny barely held an indigent look on his face, "Hey! I need those questions. I'm old. They help keep my mind focused and not on figuring out ways to prank your giant eyeball henchmen without them being able to avoid said pranks! Or new ways to hack into Skulker's battle suit using the old PDA as a backdoor in memory of Tucker!" Danny threw his hands into the air at the last statement, and then abruptly pulled them down, "Ow... Hey Clockwork, you wouldn't happen to have ghost painkillers would you? This whole sort-'a-but-not-really dead thing hurts."

Danny was getting really tired of spontaneous pain. At this point they stopped in front of a huge, gray, floor to ceiling, gear. Danny would guess a clock gear for some reason. It's not like they were in a clock cathedral. Oh wait, they were.

"No, but as you know time for me moves forward and backwards… I will do the same for you in a sense."

With that said a deep heavy _clank_ sounded and the gear rolled to the side revealing a room. Like that was completely unexpected. If anyone asked Danny, he would swear Clockwork was the original or first or oldest stage director, or actor. It doesn't matter. The ghost 'lived' for dramatic affect. Most ghosts do, Clockwork was just the original.

The grand-master drama king ghost floated into the newly revealed room and his humble part-time stagehand followed behind.

It was large. The room was round and only about sixty feet in diameter. The large part was its height. At least three hundred feet in height and the entire room was made of dull gray stonework. Even the crumbling archway in the middle of the room was made of stone. It stood roughly fifteen feet, had a soft tattered veil shifting with unfelt wind, or even with the quiet voices that could be heard except not understood. The arch would have been creepy if this scene wasn't pretty commonplace in the Ghost Zone. But Danny was mildly stunned when he noticed there wasn't a single reference to clocks in the whole chamber.

"As you are about to ask, this room is not my domain. For there to be the concept of time, there must be beings who conceive the perspective of time. When those beings came to live so did Death. Time is built around death in a way, and-" Clockwork sighed, "Once again, why do I bother? You haven't changed personality wise since you've first met me. 'Sigh…' This is Death's room," Clockwork swept his arm around, "and that is its doorway. Death touches everything, even other plans of existence."

"O.K. what?" Danny was confused. "First, what did you mean before about having me move through time? And Death's doorway? You said this death guy couldn't appear in front of me."

Now in his adult form Clockwork turned to face Danny, "I will not be moving you through time Denial; I will be turning back your body clock to before you died. I can only do this for you because you are not in Death's clutches as of yet. Your second question, this is me pointing you in the right direction. Through Death's realm as it happens to be. You won't be conscious is the best way I can explain. There is no time in there, only being. It is one of the extremely rare ways to travel to other plains or worlds." Danny looked thoughtful at this. "Are you ready?"

Danny nodded once with a determined look. Clockwork lifted his purple clock inspired scepter and with a flat voice, "Clock rewind."

Danny's green eyes lost focus. His muscled arms shrinking as he brought his hand to his face and crouched down. He let out soft moans, not in pain but for the odd feeling that was moving throughout him and his core. Feeling his human half dead one second and alive the next had to be one of the oddest, or the weirdest thing ever since, well- O.K. he forgets a lot of the year to year oddities due to just being forgetful in nature, but this HAS to be the weirdest since becoming half ghost.

The feeling started to subside. He lowered his arms and stood up. He felt weaker, but alive again. _Half alive, but still…_ He looked down his body to the floor that was a lot closer. _I am so glad clothes with ghost properties change with our body shape…_ A feeling of dread and anticipation swelled up. With that thought two white circles of light no one had seen in years appeared around the warrior-looking ghost turned weak lanky looking child. When the circles disappeared a child with light blue eyes and black messy hair appeared, along with a foot of extra clothing on everything.

"Oh, come on," The new child spoke with a higher sounding annoyed voice. His face took on a look of mild disgust at the higher sound. "Great, now I have to go through puberty AGAIN… And ghost puberty, that sucked the first time."

Clockwork cleared his throat.

Danny saw he had some child's clothing in his hands, "When did you… Never mind you make time…" With a smirk Clockwork handed over the clothes for him to change into: white t-shirt with a smallish red oval on it, blue not tight pants, and red boxers with white dots. With a lip twitch, "Way to bring back the classics."

With a shrug he took the clothes and changed into them right there. He was with the ghost of time that once, a really long time ago, said 'I know, but then… I know everything.'

With those thoughts, he turned to 'observe the door' or rather veil and back to Clockwork.

With a smile the child spoke, "Thank you Clockwork my eternal friend… I'll see you again in due time."

The grandfather ghost also gave a small very real smile, "Only time will tell… And I will miss hearing of your puns in person, Danny. Enjoy your new adventure. "

With a nod and a wave, Danny strode a little clumsily but still confidently up to through Death's veil, not even giving the whispers coming from it more than a curious thought.

Through the Veil, out of the Ministry and London, in Northern Scotland, the all-magical town of Hogsmeade resides. Headmaster Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore treads towards what he optimistically hopes to be the solution to his annual problem. The only thing that tugs in the back of his mind is the location agreed upon to meet. Albus was dressed in mauve robes, stark contrast to the old, dirty pub he stopped in front of. It had a worn picture of a hog's head above the door, fitting since the pub's name was Hog's Head Inn. The headmaster's only sign of hesitation was a tremor of his hand as he went to open the door.

The keeper and bartender looks up from wiping the bar-top, narrowing his eyes with distain as his lowly brother crosses his establishment's threshold.

"Good day to you Aberforth." Albus looks at Aberforth with a weak smile and remorseful eyes. Not that Aberforth looked twice at his elder. He just grunted and continued wiping the bar with an old rag. The curly haired woman sitting at the bar kept sloshing her sherry bottle around as she became drunker, mumbling to herself about how she wasn't suppose to be here, and this wasn't how her life was suppose to go. Albus turned to the third and last occupant of the dingy bar. He gave a grandfatherly smile, "And good day to you Quirinus."

Professor Quirinus Quirrell looks up from his Daisyroot Drought. "Hello Albus, thank you for meeting me. Won't you have a seat?" The professor was in his thirties, had short brown hair, and wore dark green burlap robes.

"Thank you Quirinus and I also must thank you for applying to the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. Our current professor only agreed to teach this year. It's fortunate that seeking a replacement this summer probably won't be needed now. I hope you're sabbatical is going well?" Quirrell gave a small smile.

"I'm just stopping through on my way back from Iceland. As you probably know they are known for Huldufólk, or elves and trolls. I have found I have a decent hand at handling their mountain trolls. I'm now on my way to the coast of Croatia, then through Albania, and hopefully end in Greece. The ancient witch Circe was said to have a different incantation to turn men into pigs. This theory may hold true due to wands not being well used as magical focuses at the time." Quirrell became increasingly more excited as he spoke. "Think I might then take a ship from there to Africa as well if I have the time as well. There is a rumor in the muggle word that there is a zombie running around there; probably an inferi that was released from a tomb."

"It seems that you will be up for the challenge of teaching defense. It will be good to have you back at Hogwarts again. It's getting increasingly difficult to find someone willing to teach the children." Dumbledore said to the man. Both smiled. "Your muggle studies students miss having-"

The drunken woman at the bar turns around and interrupts, eyes blood shot behind her rather large and powerful lenses. "D-Don't listen to that last part. The part about people not wanting to teach. Isss juss- the head master doesn' have the sight to see theee potential in people or their subjects, 'hic…' unleshhh it's in front of his crooked nose." Albus eyebrows lifted slightly while Aberforth's lips twitched. "I applied for the divination post eleven **years** ago. I am the great-great-granddaughter of the seer Cassandra Trelawney. I foresaw the impact I would have on future generations. 'Hic..." The woman picked up he sherry bottle, took a swig and continued. "But it was not to be at the time. You abolished the course all together allll because a future telling could not be Told. On. Demand. 'Hmph,' well to that I say," she turned to face the newly appointed DADA professor for the next year, "you sir will die because you'll be too weak willed to overcome evilness with the promise of power." The young man in the room went from a look of skepticism and a little pity to a dark scowl.

"Now see here Ms. Trelawney, I-" the man cut himself off as the woman's sherry bottle crashed to the floor. Aberforth jerks up from trying to get off the sherry stain on the counter. Old dueling habits cause him to reach for his wand he always keeps on himself. Her eyes went wide and rolled a bit. She spoke with a clear harsh projecting voice.

" ** _The Master of Death steps through the servant's Vail…_**

 ** _A gift given unto thee..._** "

Dumbledore's eyes shift and widen from the broken bottle to Trelawney. This is not her usual theatrics.

" ** _The Dark Lord will rise and flee again for-_** "

By this time Aberforth has his wand out and casts a privacy ward around himself and the drunken prophet.

" ** _\- not even in seven will be enough to escape Death's clutches…_**

 ** _Blue to green shall the mark be..._**

 ** _His next adventure has begun..._** "

The silence broke with the newly discovered prophet.

"It seems I dropped my Sherry, Aberforth would you please get me a new bottle. My inner eye seems to have closed a bit. I am unsure as to why. The sherry helps to keep it open."

AN: End scene, chapter, and episode. Whatever.

Thank you all for following/favoriting/reviewing who did so. I'm not going to do this again at the end of a chapter, just this first one because they are my first:

Thank you so much LunagaleMaster, Chizure, El0ndon and ShadowPillow for your reviews. They meant and still mean a lot to me.

I message back to everyone who writes a review if they have the option available.

Thank you for reading my work.

[September 10, 2015 ]

Reviews: 4 Follows: 25 Favorites: 16 Word Count: 2333


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